I am a scorpio and it’s written all over the internet that my zodiac sign is linked to the extreme., so of course, I’m not just dreaming of learning a language, I want to speak at least 5. Am I in any way near my goal? Nope. I don’t even know how I got my English that far…school didn’t help. I improved rapidly after finding out how much more resources you’ll find in German compared to English and hence I’m a lazy person, I’ll rather don’t search for long.
I want to study one language at a time, starting with French. It’s also rather fun to find out how you really learn a language, because as I said, I studied English since childhood and was always guided by a teacher, therefore I signed up for a French course at university, paid a ton of money whilst getting nothing out of it. No extra resources even – just a native teacher, who worked with the text book “Bon voyage” (which I had to buy myself), which is boring as hell. I just paid for the realization that I should have been rather thankful for the free English lessons back in school, which I believed were rather bad too. (not as bad as that f* course though) I basically finished the course without even reaching the A1 level, feeling dumb and very willing to bury my dream of polyglottery.
Again, I’m a lazy person, I wake up rather early though, between 4 and 6 am, whilst being a night owl. Don’t ask me how I do it, I believe it to be just a bad habit of mine – and caffeine. Coffee, black tea, matcha, green tea, I adore them all. I am also the proud owner of a black dog and I read loads of books, like to cook and bake and in summer, I enjoy inline skating a lot. I'm also a biology and german teacher in the making. Yesterday I realized that I spend way too much time on youtube, not even being entertained, and that this really has to stop. Naturally I remembered my failed French attempt, which still scratches my ego rather badly.
Why French?
The first advice you read everywhere when you want to start a language is that you need to find some motivation to make if through the feeling of being overwhelmed, not good enough or simply bored. So, it’s a good start for myself.
1. I want to read French literature like Flaubert or Satre in the original language, because the German translations are garbage
2. I want to watch Arte in French
3. I have the crazy urge to talk to my dog in French, which is a valid reason, thank you very much
4. Maybe I’ll even find some new friends, whilst filing on my speaking skills
5. I sound more intellectual… xD (genius vibes here)
6. I’m still angry with myself, because I haven’t taken French lessons in school (exams, you know?!)
7. Insert reason here, because every list must a have 3, 5, 7 or 10 points to be trustworthy…if you don’t believe me, find the next text book and find some lists to learn by heart
How will I use my log?
As I said, I have no idea how you learn a language. I’m going to document my progress (or at least my dailies) and hopefully will call myself fluent in French in the end. I commit myself to at least 30 minutes of French and 5 french words every day. I also want to do grammar at least once a week (and I hate grammar). If I’m successful in acquiring French, I will move forward to another language and make language learning a hobby mine. If not…well…this is the internet. Nobody knows, who I am and I will bolt out of this forum with a paper bag above my red, puffy face, crying frantically about my second language learning failure.
So, if you are intrigued, have a seat, take some imaginary cookies and have some tea or coffee. It might be entertaining to watch me struggle.
